


Sapphic September

by WoollyLambda



Series: Laphystius's P&P Fics [3]
Category: Barbie - All Media Types, Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper (2004)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Awkwardness, Coffee Shops, Developing Relationship, Drabble Collection, Embedded Images, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Mild Blood, Roommates, Sapphic September, Sapphic September 2019, this fic is mobile-friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-05 23:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20497370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoollyLambda/pseuds/WoollyLambda
Summary: I'm only going to be writing for Anneliese/Erika during Sapphic September so I might as well stick them all in one fic1. "Just get it over with." cw: Mild Blood2. Wish3. Fake Dating (Modern!AU)4. "Do you need a hand?" (Modern!AU)5a. Roommate AU (Modern!AU)5b. Holidays6a. Fireworks (Modern!AU)





	1. 1. "Just get it over with."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erika teaches Anneliese how to sew

Anneliese sucked in a tense hiss of breath.

Blood was pearling at the tip of her index finger, staining the fabric she was stitching with a bloom of bright red. She’d been so careful not to stick herself, but Erika was _looking _at her, and, _well_… she’d gotten distracted.

“Ah,” Erika chided, “rookie mistake!” She set down her own embroidery to examine Anneliese’s digit. Her smile was broad and reassuring, even if her words were tough.

None of the servants were around to see the slip-up, thank goodness. If there had been anyone around, Anneliese was sure even spilling a single _drop_ of royal blood would have caused an international scandal.

“You really got yourself good, huh?” Erika mused, leaning in over her hand. She wasn’t wrong. “Do you want me to pull it out, or are you alright doing it yourself?”

“You, please,” Anneliese whispered. The red-on-white stain grew larger with each passing second.

Erika nodded, settling closer to Anneliese so she could get a better grip on the needle.

“I’ll count to three,” she said.

Anneliese grimaced, turning her head away as she steadied herself.

“One,” Erika began.

Anneliese breathed.

Before she could even exhale, Erika had yanked the needle out and was pressing the rough cotton of Anneliese’s embroidery tight to her finger.

“Hey!” Anneliese shouted. She tried to pull her finger away, but Erika held on.

“Not so fast,” she murmured, pulling the hand to her chest. “I’ll need to keep holding _this_ until it’s done bleeding.”

Anneliese sighed, allowing her hand to go limp in Erika’s grip.

“I guess we’re just stuck like this, then,” she said, a smile seeping in through her put-upon persona.

Erika grinned up at her, pressing a kiss to her hand through the bloody fabric.

“I guess we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy September! Here are the sources for the images in the mood board :)
> 
> [1](https://deavita.fr/design-interieur/chambre-a-coucher/chambre-style-baroque-chic/?image_id=134175) [2](http://www.calicopoint.com/) [3](https://weheartit.com/entry/329810527)  
[4](https://a-whisper-of-roses.tumblr.com/post/139780787654) [5](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/686306430688427209/) [6](https://weheartit.com/articles/315947022-if-i-were-a-disney-princess)  
[7](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/531213718542101126/?lp=true) [8](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/ef/d7/1aefd7c42925d7b3ef276836d037e109.jpg) [9](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/794252084260899585/?lp=true)


	2. 2. Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erika's wish comes true, in more ways than one

Erika’s one wish as a child had been to find love that was as boundless and true as the love that her parents had for each other. The way her father would tell her mother how beautiful he found her—especially if she’d just gotten back from feeding the chickens. Or how her mother would kiss her father’s brow when it was furrowed, and the wrinkles would melt away into a blissful smile.

It showed that, even in their darkest hours of starvation and poverty, the two of them were wealthy in love. They were bursting at their very _seams_ with love. When they died, the world had gone dark for Erika. The glow of their love had kept her warm for so long that, when it was gone, she was blinded by it. Afterward, her wish was simply to be free.

Freedom. Her freedom from her parents’ debt to Madam Carp. From the confines of the _Emporium_. Her freedom to leave the kingdom and travel wherever the wind took her.

She had dreamt about it for years, had laced her fingers together tight, pressed them to her forehead, and kneeled—prostrating herself before the night sky.

“_Please_,” she whispered, hands aching and bloody after weeks—then months—then years of working for nothing beside some other nameless, penniless girl whose parents had died, or who had sold her into it and were now dead to her anyway, and who left just as quickly as she came while Erika toiled for the best part of a decade. “Please, take me away.”

She prayed on that wish every night until she met Anneliese.

And after _that_, both of her wishes came true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sources! :)
> 
> [1](https://pixabay.com/photos/ocean-starry-sky-milky-way-rest-3605547/) [2](https://66.media.tumblr.com/cf04119a107d8257cd960040697bd7e1/tumblr_o5vyrebVhM1u7ezalo1_400.jpg) [3](https://pixabay.com/photos/milky-way-galaxy-night-sky-stars-984050/) [4](https://pixabay.com/photos/roses-flowers-night-romance-1245869/) [5](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/273241902375032558/?lp=true) [6](https://pixabay.com/photos/girls-lesbians-best-friends-female-839809/) [7](https://pixabay.com/photos/night-dark-galaxy-star-mountain-2594984/) [8](https://pixabay.com/photos/prayer-hands-church-light-2544994/) [9](https://pixabay.com/photos/starry-night-starry-sky-silhouette-1149815/)


	3. 3. Fake Dating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erika tells a creep she's going out with Anneliese.  
Modern!AU

It had started out innocently enough.

Erika had been getting her morning coffee at the little café in the basement of the visual arts building. This was usually an uneventful sort of transaction. She would give the barista her money, the barista would give her the coffee, and she would schlepp off to class and pass out in a reading nook until her next lecture. Clockwork. Easy-peasy. But that wasn’t what the universe had in mind for her that morning. Just as Erika was going to order her drink, some jackass in a beanie-and-tartan-scarf combo was leaning _way_ too close to her. He got her pinned between the counter and his lanky, hipster self, and she’d acted on instinct—shooting her hand out and grabbing the person behind him while flashing a big, bright smile his way and chirping, “Oh, well, actually I’m here with my… _girlfriend!”_

And he’d backed right off, thank God. Left the whole shop when he realized the stink-eye he was getting from everyone in the place, including the barista.

The girl she’d grabbed got closer to her, and that’s when Erika realized that she was positively, absolutely, _royally _fucked.

Anneliese Schafer-Schultz.

Earth Sciences/Mathematics double major with a minor in Music. She had seen Anneliese in some of her Music lectures, and even in some of her Classics lectures. The girl was an unstoppable academic force. And, she was a _goddess, _too_. _Long, sun-streaked blonde hair that shone and bounced whenever she moved. Flawless skin without any make-up (as far as Erika could tell). 4.0 GPA without a single penalty in the whole three years she’d been going to Arborea. And, yes, was there an entire building with her last freakin’ name on the front of it. Campus officials still somehow got the two of them mixed up, though. In Erika’s opinion, it was an insult to the _perfection_ that was Anneliese Schafer-Schultz to even _begin _to compare the two of them, but that didn’t stop the mailroom from sending Erika her flyers every couple of months, even though Erika had filed for a forwarding address, like, three separate times. It must have had something to do with their Student ID photos, because their names were totally different.

Anneliese’s dorm had been across campus from hers since first year, but Erika still hand-delivered the mail every time, just to get a look at her. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night, right?

So, they sat down together in one of the scuffed up old booths after Anneliese _paid for her drink _and she was blushing so bad that Anneliese must have thought she had a fever or was stroking out or something because she kept _smiling _at her in that way you smile at people who are visibly going insane right in front of you. Erika thanked her for the help and the coffee—intent on paying her back—but Anneliese waved her off and made her put her wallet away. Then, after a few tense seconds of silence, Anneliese broke the quiet with some small talk about the research paper they had to do for _CLA395._ The course was literally called The Worlds of Sappho, but, like, there was no way Anneliese was… y’know. Right? There was no way.

They finished their coffees and, oh shit, they were walking to class together. Ice and rain the night before had made the cobblestone walkways between buildings extra-difficult to navigate, so Anneliese linked arms with her. And they walked like that, arm in arm, for TEN WHOLE MINUTES while they crossed campus. Erika couldn’t tell whether she was going to die of happiness or of the pure, unadulterated terror that comes from being in a forty-mile radius of your crush. Either way, she got to the lecture hall alive, miraculously, and when she turned to say goodbye to Anneliese, she just smiled.

“I play for keeps, you know,” was the only thing Erika heard before she felt Anneliese’s lips on her cheek.


	4. 4. "Do you need a hand?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anneliese helps Erika up

“Need a hand?”

The voice cut through over the ringing in her ears, and Erika looked up—reeling as she rubbed at a sore spot on her head.

“Uh,” she mumbled, blinking slowly, “yeah—um—yes.”

Gravel and salt dug into her bare palms as she ground her hands into the icy pavement, and the throbbing in her skull was so deep that she couldn’t even find it in herself to complain. Pink mittens grabbed her under the arms—stabilizing her as she got up on shaky legs—and braced around her shoulders as she came up off the ground. She felt herself being led to a bench under the awning of a nearby building, and she went with it, coming down heavily as she clutched at her head, her hip, her _everything. God. _Everything _hurt._ Her whole left side tingled from the chill of the slush that had soaked through her jeans, and the suede boots she’d worn were spectacularly ill-suited to keeping the weather at bay, which left her toes numb in some places and stinging in others.

Her head was between her knees for a while. Erika wasn’t sure exactly how long.

When she came back up—slowly, minute by minute—she blinked into the light and squinted at the person sitting beside her. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust, and when they did, it took a second longer of blinking to realize that one of her contacts had fallen out.

“Shit,” she cursed, thumping the pockets of her jacket, then of her messenger bag as she scrambled for her back-ups. “Just give me a second.”

Erika had been wearing contacts since high school, and as such, the pair of glasses she had in her bag in case of emergencies had an older prescription. They looked exactly like the set of frames that you would expect a fourteen-year-old girl to pick out, with little metal butterflies soldered to the arms, and tiny pink rhinestones dotting the corners of her eyes. She took out the one remaining contact and pressed them onto her nose, immediately cursing again before dropping her face into her hands.

“Hey,” Anneliese breathed. Her voice was dripping with friendly concern, and her little smile… her big blue eyes_…._

“_God_,” Erika mumbled through her hands. “Hey, hi, thank you.”

Anneliese chuckled, leaning back in her spot on the bench.

Her hair was in a ponytail this time—the kind that girls on TV wear where they braid their bangs up into it and then curl the end so it gets all springy—and she had on a knitted pink headband, matching her mitts, to protect her ears from the cold. Her jacket was a fleece-lined, camo-green canvas get-up that hit her at the mid-thigh, and her boots were the sensible sort of hiking boots that you sprayed waterproofer on when you bought them instead of leaving the fate of your toes up to the elements. _Good God, _she looked cute. And she was wearing _lip gloss. Pink. Lip gloss. _Erika was going to lose her mind.

“That looked like a pretty nasty spill,” she said with another smile.

Pulling her own bag into her lap, Anneliese fished out a plain aluminium thermos—unscrewing the lid and pouring the contents of the thermos into it. Her hands crossed the gulf between them to put the lid in Erika’s, and when she took it, she could immediately tell that she was holding a cup of homemade hot chocolate. And, _yes, _she _could _actually tell just from smelling it, even if Julian thought she was full of shit. It was his fault for never learning how to make the good stuff. Hot chocolate from powder always smelled, and tasted, more like plastic, kettle-heated water than the chocolate that it was supposed to be made from. When it was from scratch, though, it smelled like _vanilla_, and _warmth_. It smelled like staying up late in front of the fireplace. Anneliese’s hot chocolate in particular smelled like she put cinnamon in it, which, just saying? The _correct _way to make hot chocolate.

Erika breathed in deeply over the cup, allowing the aromatic steam to waft up and warm her face, clear her nose. She smiled back at Anneliese and made a gesture of toasting with the lid before taking a sip.

“It’s so good!” she enthused, eyes going wide as the flavours rolled over her tongue. Any attempt to savour the hot chocolate was lost in Erika’s rapid consumption of it, tipping her head back to get the last drops at the bottom of the cup. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, laughing nervously as she handed the cup back to Anneliese and remembered where she was.

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you, _again_, I mean. For… everything.”

Anneliese grinned at her—a huge, bright smile that spread through her whole body—and took the cup to refill it.

“It’s been my pleasure,” she assured.

Erika watched—rapt—as Anneliese poured out more cocoa, winking at Erika before drinking deeply. She blushed, quickly turning her gaze to the salt-stained toes of her boots—now fully soaked through.

“So,” Anneliese started, pouring out one last cup of hot chocolate and handing it to Erika, “were you texting someone, or…?”

Erika frowned for a second, confusion wrinkling her face as she tried to figure out Anneliese’s meaning.

(And, not to be a giant lesbian, but she was sort marvelling at the fact that they were drinking out of the same cup. Like, holy shit.)

“When you tripped?” Anneliese prompted, gesturing to the pathway with the thermos in her hand. She took a drink straight from it, tipping it back—just as Erika had the cup—to get at what remained inside.

“Ohhh,” Erika said. “No, I guess I just… slipped? Or something? I was walking to class, and then I was on the ground.”

She shrugged, raising the cup to her lips. As she swallowed, though, a terrifying realization dawned on her.

“Hey, uh, Anneliese?” Erika asked, eyes open wide as she set the cup down on the bench in between them. “What time is it?”

Anneliese frowned, fishing her phone out of her jacket pocket and flicking the screen on.

“11:56,” she said, looking up from the screen to watch Erika, “why do you ask?”

Erika groaned, rubbing at the sore spot on her head again before hefting the weight of her bag higher on her shoulders and getting up from the bench.

“I’ve gotta go to class,” she griped.

Anneliese grinned—a little nefariously, Erika would later admit—and downed the last of the cocoa in Erika’s abandoned cup. She screwed the lid back onto the thermos and stuffed the whole thing quickly into her bag.

“I wouldn’t want you to trip again,” she said, linking her arm with Erika’s. “I’ll walk you there.”

Erika felt her face go red.

“Uh!” she yelped. “Sure!”

Anneliese spirited her away to class, and again, just as she was leaving, she pressed a kiss to Erika’s cheek.

“And, by the way,” she began.

“Uh huh?” Erika squeaked.

“I think you look cute with glasses.”

It was a whisper in her ear.

Anneliese was gone in a flash, leaving Erika to gawp at her back as she watched her go, her ponytail springing and swishing as she walked. It was mesmerizing.

Dominick was hiding a wide smile behind his textbook when she finally moved to sit down.

She would have glared at him, but she was smiling, too—unable to let any shame get in the way of her happiness. Erika felt her cheek for the place where Anneliese had kissed it, but she frowned when they came away sticky.

Pink lip gloss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sources! :)  

> 
> [1](https://www.canva.com/photos/MAC4MkuSXYo-holding-hands/) [2](https://jooinn.com/close-up-of-snow.html#gal_post_158426_closeup-of-snow-1.jpg) [3](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/790944753286107172/)  
[4](https://allthetreesofthefield.tumblr.com/post/66721764062/went-on-a-mini-hike-at-turtle-river-state-park) [5](https://photos.buffalostate.edu/2011-2013-Events/2013-Events-1/112713-Winter-Campus-Scenics/i-jNW2W8f) [6](http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/hot-chocolate/images/31589672/title/hot-chocolate-photo)  
[7](https://66.media.tumblr.com/c79308c2b10dce7d3a2de752a5c1d2ee/tumblr_p1du54x1bW1uvjsumo1_400.jpg) [8](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/353180795777456333/) [9](https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-pink-knitted-mittens-holding-cup-701768767)


	5. 5a. Roommate AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I took the roommate AU and went with it VERY loosely, sorry about that
> 
> this takes place in the College AU continuity

Dominick chuckled as Erika unlocked the door, stomping snow off of her boots at the threshold before marching inside with a huff. She crouched down and untied the laces on each boot, kicking them onto the shoe rack and throwing her bag down. Her coat sloughed off of her, then her hat, mitts, and scarf, abandoned in her wake as she made her way through the foyer. Thin, lacey ice had crystalized on the lenses of her glasses on the walk home, so she yanked them off and polished them on her pants until the glass was clear.

“Rough day?” he asked, lowering the screen of his laptop. Textbooks were set out on the living room table in front of him, made completely illegible by all of his notes and highlights. An earbud dangled from his ear, and a book she recognized as _Brahms: The Complete Works _laid open in his lap.

Erika grumbled wordlessly in response. She trudged into the kitchen to flick the kettle on and got two mugs down from the cupboard, then a mason jar full of cocoa mix and a box of peppermint tea. While the water worked toward a boil, Erika spooned powder into her mug, moving to search for her footstool when the lower shelves came up empty on marshmallows.

The stool wobbled as she stepped up. Erika set a knee on the countertop to brace herself and hefted forward, snatching the bag from the shelf.

She did Dominick’s tea next, ripping the foil packet of the teabag open with one quick tear. One spoon of honey and a splash of milk.

The kettle clicked. Erika poured their drinks and loaded hers with marshmallows, balancing them in a fragile tower on the surface of her cocoa.

“Thanks,” Dominick chimed, pushing a coaster from the middle of the table toward her. Tinny music leaked from his headphones for a second, and he tapped the space bar to cut them off.

He took his mug.

“So,” he started, blowing on it. “What’s got you so out of sorts?”

Erika sighed.

“Well….”

Snow fell in thick blots of fluffy white through the glass of the back door.

“Anything to do with _her_?” he asked, a devilish smile curling up over the rim of his mug.

“Who said anything about Anneliese?” Erika snapped.

“Not me.”

Dominick chuckled. Erika whirled to look at him, a serene smile plastered on his face as he took a drink of tea. Heat rose in her cheeks, and she grimaced, gulping back a mouthful of cocoa.

“It’s not like you’ve had a thing for her since day one, freshman year,” he teased.

Her frown grew deeper.

“That you’ve been pining over her for weeks.”

She grumbled.

“That she _kissed you, _and yet you’re somehow still oblivious to the fact that she likes you back.”

Dominick took another sip of his tea.

Erika’s eyebrows shot up.

“She _what?_”

The words shot from her throat in tight, high-pitched squeaks.

“You were _there_?” he chuckled.

Erika sputtered, and leaned across the table to smack Dominick on the knee.

“Ow!” he laughed, setting his mug down to clutch at his leg.

“What do you mean _likes me_?”

Dominick raised his eyebrows in confusion.

“What do you mean, what do you mean?”

She frowned again, and he leaned back in his chair.

“I thought it was obvious,” he said.

Erika’s jaw dropped, and she stared at Dominick for a long moment of silence. Gears whirred in her head, and she ran a hand through her hair, playing with the arm of her glasses.

“That’s,” she stuttered, “I mean, that’s just, that’s just silly.”

Dominick let out a long exhale.

“She’s been jerking me around, that’s all,” Erika concluded.

“Fine,” Dominick sighed. “Stay in denial.”

He shut his computer and packed his books away, tucking them under his arm as he headed upstairs.

“Her number’s on the fridge.”

Erika shot out of her chair at that. She scrambled into the kitchen, socked feet slipping on the tile as she went.


	6. 5b. Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some sweet sweet fluff

Anneliese sighed in a breath, slowly shifting to press a kiss to Erika’s nape. Her exhaled air misted in the space between them. Beneath the covers, a pocket of warmth had formed. The fire in the hearth had died while they were asleep, leaving the air just above the bed frigid.

Cold toes moved slowly below the duvet, and Anneliese chuffed out a laugh when they found her ankles.

“Good morning,” Erika whispered, shifting in Anneliese’s arms to face her.

Sunlight shone in through gaps in the curtains, and in the soft light, Erika glowed. Her long hair fanned out on the pillow: a halo of shining amber rays. Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips rosy. Anneliese smiled.

“Good morning,” she replied.

Wood creaked as Anneliese leaned in toward Erika, kissing her with a grin.

“A joyous Yuletide, my Queen,” she breathed, eyes sparkling as she watched Erika’s face quickly jolt from shock to laughter.

Erika sputtered, covering her mouth with her hands.

“What was that for?” she asked.

Anneliese beamed.

“No reason,” she hummed, pressing another quick peck to Erika’s brow.

She moved to lift the covers, but Erika hissed, pulling her down by the back of her nightdress.

“Not yet,” she murmured, turning her back to Anneliese in offering.

Anneliese wrapped her arms around Erika, waiting as she made herself comfortable.

Dominick and Julian would just have to wait.


	7. 6a. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anneliese and erika go on a whole ass DATE

Bright white light spilled from Erika’s phone screen. She stared and worried her lip with her teeth, unable to move. The empty text window stared back at her.

Erika set her phone face-down on her desk and rolled backward in her chair. She groaned, rapidly tapping the arms of the chair as she retreated.

Sound chirped from the phone, and Erika jumped, rushing back to it.

_Just send the text._

Erika grumbled again, louder this time.

“Stay out of it, you creep!” she yelled, cupping a hand around her mouth and turning toward the wall connected to Dominick’s bedroom.

_;P_

The text flicked away with a swipe of her thumb.

Erika held the scrap of paper up to inspect it. Pink ink swirled into numerals, sparkling in the low light of her bedroom as she shifted it. A dash bisected the stem of Anneliese’s seven. Each of her twos crossed over with a loop. Flowers permeated the air as Erika brought it closer, and her brows knit together in response. She raised the paper to her nose and breathed.

Rose.

The scent surrounded her for a moment, filling her lungs as she took in a long draught of it.

Erika’s eyes shot open. She slammed the scrap down and blushed iron-hot red.

She picked her phone up again, unlocking it and tapping into her messaging app. ‘New Contact’ gleamed in the corner of the screen, and Erika punched it, Anneliese’s details copied in with stuttered motions.

Anneliese Schafer-Schulz, 457-894-0222.

“Is this Anneliese?” she typed in pokey keystrokes.

She quickly erased it.

“Hey!” she tried again.

Definitely not.

“Hey, do you want to go see the fireworks next week?”

Erika moved to jam her thumb down on the backspace key and screamed when she missed.

She could hear Dominick shoot up from his desk and come down the hall.

“Are you okay?” he called from the other side of her door.

Erika’s response came out silent.

She tried again.

“I just sent a text to Anneliese Schafer-Schulz,” she squeaked.

“Oh!” he laughed. “Alright, well, have fun!”

Erika grumbled, getting up from her desk to flop into bed. Pillows muffled her grumbling as she stewed.

A ‘new message’ alert pinged from her phone.

“I swear to God, Dominick!” she yelled, snapping her phone up to dismiss the message.

_I’d love to go!_

Erika sucked in a rapid gasp of air. Her palms burst out into a clammy sweat, and her heart fluttered in her chest.

_great!!!!_

-

Hot air blasted from vents in the dashboard. Stars twinkled in the clear night sky, and the moon hung in a bright crescent over head. Erika jittered in her seat. She threw the car into park and hauled the emergency brake up, flicking off the headlights as the vehicle settled in its parking space. Her scarf wrapped tight around her neck, so she unwound it, tossing it over her shoulder and into the back seat.

She tapped the steering wheel, drumming with trembling fingers.

“So,” she hiccupped, gesturing to the sky, “great night, huh?”

Anneliese smiled. She shifted in her seat, turning her body to face Erika.

“It really is.”

Shiny, pale pink fabric rustled as she moved to unzip her coat: a fitted down jacket trimmed with white fur. The ensemble cut off at the knee, leading to a long sweeping motion down her front as she shimmied out of it.

Stripped turtleneck. Pink fleece vest.

Erika chuckled, eyes quickly darting from Anneliese to the empty field in front of them.

“Do you have any, um, New Years resolutions?” she asked.

“A few,” Anneliese answered. “But, it’s like a birthday wish, right? You’re not supposed to tell.”

Erika sputtered out a laugh and smacked the steering wheel.

“Where’d you hear that?” she wheezed.

“It’s what my dad always used to say.”

Erika’s face fell. She sat up straight, pressing her glasses up on her face.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“It’s okay,” Anneliese assured, leaning forward to pat Erika’s knee. “You didn’t know.”

Erika swallowed harshly. She went back to drumming the steering wheel, her back ramrod straight, and her muscles tense.

A burst of red popped in the sky above them, and Erika jolted, wide-eyed as the remnants sparkled down to Earth.

“Ooo, it’s starting,” Anneliese whispered, crowding across the center console to touch shoulders with Erika.

Erika exhaled loudly. She released the tension in her back, and allowed her shoulder to keep touching Anneliese’s, even when she settled back into her own seat.

Explosions of blue and silver illuminated the night air, shooting in streamers and blooms of shimmering colour. Pink and yellow and orange, bottled stars. Lights shone on Anneliese’s face in the corner of Erika’s eye. Enrapt, Anneliese stared up at the sky and grinned.

Erika leaned back a bit. Anneliese broke from her enchantment, mouth snapping shut as she turned to look at Erika.

“Everything… okay?” she asked, face flushed.

“Mhm,” Erika nodded.

A ruby plume shot up into the sky, and Erika surged forward, pressing her lips to Anneliese’s. Anneliese froze for a second, and Erika moved to pull back, but Anneliese grabbed her hand and leaned into it.

Her eyelashes fluttered against Erika’s cheeks. Erika shifted back, dazed, and Anneliese smiled. Gold leapt into the darkness, then white, then bronze. Erika saw Anneliese’s face in sudden flashes, lit by precious tones. The scent of roses surrounded her again, and she breathed deep of it, tasted it on her lips. Anneliese smiled, watching as Erika’s tongue darted out to swipe at the gloss she left there.


End file.
